Beverly’s Daniel Fishman enters race for 6th District

Wednesday

Jul 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMJul 25, 2012 at 2:19 PM

After more than a year of gathering signatures, a Beverly Libertarian feels confident he will have more than enough to put his name on the November ballot next to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. John F. Tierney, and fellow contender, Republican Richard Tisei.

Natalie Miller / Wicked Local Beverly

After more than a year of gathering signatures, a Beverly Libertarian feels confident he will have more than enough to put his name on the November ballot next to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. John F. Tierney, and fellow contender, Republican Richard Tisei.

A newcomer to the campaign trail, Daniel Fishman, 44, said the current state of

For more information about Daniel Fishman, visit fishmanforcongress.com and find him on Facebook.

the country has propelled him to run for Congress.

“There is a real disconnect between what is happening in Congress and common sense,” said Fishman.

Taxes aren’t being collected for enormous defense spending, he continued, and since he doesn’t think takes should be increased unless that’s the consensus of the country, the government needs to find a way to spend within the confines of what it has.

“You can’t spend more than you can bring in,” said Fishman. “We have to work toward a balanced budget.”

The Beverly software architect left the Republican party 20 years ago. He will run as a Libertarian, saying government power is increasing with every battle between the Democrats and the Republicans, whether it is a disagreement over increasing the debt ceiling or health care.

Furthermore, said Fishman, the government’s “winner take all philosophy” just isn’t working.

“We were not meant to be 50 unified states,” said Fishman, “but 50 united states.”

For instance, the health care plan that Mitt Romney passed made a lot of sense for Massachusetts, said Fishman, but it might not be the best course of action for Texas.

“But they should be allowed to decide,” he said. “If we continued with our plan, others could join. It would be better for all.”

This is Fishman’s first time running for any office, however, he said, he has always been fiscally conservative and active on political blogs.

As software architect, Fishman is working to improve special education through his position at esped.com, a company that develops web-based reporting applications and services for school districts across the country.

His work helps school districts understand special education data that assists in developing more effective programs, and brings his profession full circle, he said.

“When I was first in Massachusetts I was a teachers assistant, so special education has always been on the forefront of my interest,” he said.

Fishman moved to the Bay State in 1994, working at the League School of Boston, which specializes in educating children with autism and Asperger’s.

He went on to work for Mass General Hospital as a software architect, developing distance learning software for the Institute of Health Professionals. He married his wife, Eleanor, in 2001. They bought their first home in Beverly in 2003.

Now that the signature gathering is coming to an end, Fishman is organizing fundraisers around the North Shore, but said he will not be soliciting election donations from corporations.

“There is a lot of money going into this election,” he said, adding that the other candidates accepting corporate money makes the election more about big businesses than the people in the district.

“In the beginning, the corporation was created by government to enable efficiencies in business,” said Fishman. “ Now government is created by corporations to enable efficiencies in business.”

Speaking of his competitors, Fishman declined to comment on Tierney’s recent family troubles.

“It’s not a campaign issue,” he said, noting that the important thing in this election is what Tierney has done in Congress.

Fishman said he has had several correspondences with Tierney over the years and Tierney has always written back personally.

“There is no question about his sincerity in terms of representing the people,” said Fishman.

However, said Fishman, Tierney and his opponent, Republican Richard Tisei, have become “professional politicians” and disconnected from the citizens.

“Politicians are so distant from the people the represent,” he said. “The party comes first and the public comes second. We don’t subscribe to that,” he said of Libertarians.

Tisei has progressive ideas, said Fishman, but the Libertarian left the Republican Party because of social issues.

“To say gay marriage can be cured is a repulsive notion,” he said, adding that conservative Republicans have “gone off the deep end” and other Republicans are simply not speaking out against these social issues within the Party.

This begs the question of what these politicians believe, said Fishman, adding that politicians should be making decisions based on their political beliefs and following their principles.

Libertarians are known as the “party of principle” because of their tendency of sticking to their beliefs, said Fishman.

“We have to protect liberty all the time,” he said, “and tolerate behavior that doesn’t hurt us personally … Government intervention has gotten in the way of peoples’ liberties.”

This leads back to Fishman’s belief that the government is growing too large. “I have a commitment to smaller government,” said Fishman, adding that the notion that Libertarians believe in no government is false. “They believe in small government.”

The city of Beverly embraces the meaning of community, he said, noting that he is looking forward to the Beverly Homecoming festivities, which start this weekend.

“It’s a real sense of community,” he said.

If you bring that to the next level and look at Cape Ann, continued Fishman, you find people are more protective of their own. On the larger scale, take Massachusetts and Texas — each state has very specific goals, he said.

“We need to find a way to govern ourselves at a more local level,” he said. “We have issues here that make no sense for people in other states.”

By investing in local communities and making decisions that make sense to us, said Fishman, the country will not be red states or blue states, but united states.

“One size does not fit all,” he said. “Strength of community is what we invest in it… if a community or government grows to large, voices aren’t heard. There is no such thing as a community of 300 million people.”